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MSAP training and core teams from across the United States have been in place for varying periods of time. Arizona's program is a relative "newcomer" in offering this program. Success is real...and reflect the type of results this training is capable of bringing about. One of the most poignant statements regarding the value of the MSAP program came from a high school student who had been helped by an MSAP team. "Thanks to the Student Assistance Program, my life has meaning and hope. If it wasn't for the SAP, I don't know where I would be, or if I would even be alive!" Another testiment to the value of the MSAP teams comes from an alternative middle school in Ohio. For the most part, students at this school are the "hard cases." Of the 180-200 students attending the school, some have been referred by distraught parents who are at the ends of their ropes and need help with problem children, but most students had come from the courts or from the juvenile probation system. The MSAP team has been in operation in this school for about 4 years and the school has seen a wonderous turn around. Approximately 20% of the students are achieving honor roll status and students who come to the school with an attendance rate of around 15% are staying in school and absenteeism is down around 17%. Parents have become more involved and participation in parent-teacher conferences has double. The principal of the school credits the phenominal turn around to the operation of MSAP in the school. With Arizona rated as the "worst" state in the country for drop-outs and poor standing in other child relaed areas...doesn't it stand to reason that we accept the opportunity MSAP training offers as well as meet the challenge to help our schools and our children. Our MSAP teams are already making headway in many areas...but our goal is to get even more educators trained and active in schools all across Arizona. With determination...we can reverse Arizona's poor standing in child related issues. The cases stated above aren't isolated or unique...success is being seen in every state where the MSAP is being offered. As Mr. Thom Stecher (a co-founder of the Masonic Model) stated at a recent conference he attended: "The three R's have changed. A machine can teach reading, writing and 'rithmetic, but what needs to be taught today is a more formidable task. Today's students need education in the three R's of Respect, Responsibility, and Relationships – in addition to reading, writing and 'rithmetic." Pennsylvania was the first state to adopt the Masonic Model Student Assistance Training in 1984. In November of 2003, Dr Carl Fertman of the University of Pittsburg, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published the results of research on the effectivness of SAP teams in Pennsylvania schools. The conclusion is that SAP works. "We can emphatically report that Student Assistance Progams positively contributes to student academic success and achievement. Student Assistance Programs greatly enhance the relationship between youth and behavioral health care providers. Student Assistance Programs help to create healthy youth and a healthy future America." To read the complete research summary Click here. Become involved...as an educator by becoming part of an MSAP team, or as a donor to help this program grow so we can make a good program even better.
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"I would like to sincerely thank the Masonic Foundaon for sponsoring this program. We are a small charter school with very limited funds. Not only is the training excellent in content but it's affordable for schools like us, because it's free!! I have been providing child/family therapy for 15 years, and in 15 years of attending conferences, training, etc., this has been one of the absolute BEST!! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!" "To build on what we learned during the training session, we are currently putting together a community mental health referral list and planning to invite local mental health providers to our school to talk with staff and develop our referral relationship" "The beauty of MSAP is that it is an umbrella to all the things we already had in place including district and federal programs. it covers those things in the sorting process as well as the new things we developed as a result of the MSAP training." AZ Masonic Foundation for Children is a 501(c)3 charity registered with the Secretary of State of AZ to solicite donations in support of our charitable school programs. |